Friday Night for a Single Lady
by 8belles
Summary: Peggy bumps into a friend while grocery shopping. Will it change her Friday night plans? between 1.06 and 1.07. ( a one shot... hints of Carston ship)


Friday Night for a Single Lady

**A/N.. lets assume a few days pass between returning from Russia and her bourbon with the guys before all hell breaks loose.**

Peggy pushed her small shopping cart slowly down the aisle of Tom's Corner Market, just a few blocks from the Griffith, her attention fully absorbed by a fascinating box of Ivory Snow laundry flakes. There were a few gunpowder stains she had to remove from her wash and she was hoping the new "whitening power" of the soap would do the trick.

"Oww!" a male voice suddenly exclaimed, making Peggy startle, her brown curls bouncing and nearly dropping her soap. Looking up, she saw Jack Thompson rubbing his shin gingerly, balancing on one foot. His hat brim obscured his view of her, "Hey, would you watch- " he began angrily, then turned his head and recognized her eyes widening, "—where you're going."

"Jack! I am so terribly sorry. I was reading this… box of soap." Peggy smiled sheepishly, wondering why she felt so genuinely upset. After the plane ride back from Russia, things had been different between them and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Jack actually had a soft side he was afraid of showing. Either way, both of them now seemed to dance around each other at the office as if they would give away the secret conversation they had aboard the airplane.

Thompson immediately straightened up, fidgeting with his lapel as if nothing happened, "Well, I… uh. It's ok."

"Good. I'm glad I didn't permanently damage you." Peggy mustered a smile and she liked how he couldn't hold her gaze. Changing the subject she commented, "I didn't realize you shop here."

Jack seemed to finally get a grip and responded, "I just needed a few things and this was on the way home."

" You must not live too far. I'd wouldn't want to carry home all those…"she peaked into his cart, "cans of Campbell's soup and Yahoo bottles. Those would be very heavy." Carter noted it looked like the typical bachelor fare.

"I manage. And I'll be doing something more exciting than…" he glanced at the Ivory Snow in her hand, "my laundry tonight."

Peggy cooled her smile a tad and tried to keep the flint out of her eyes, "Actually, Saturday is my laundry day. Gives plenty of time for things to really dry out."

Jack gave a thin smile.

Carter continued in a polite yet biting purr, "What is so exciting on a Friday night for you? A warmed can of chicken noodle and a cold Yahoo? Perhaps a program on the radio? A fine young man like you must have _something_ amazing to do in the world's best city. "

Thompson stood mutely as Peggy could see furious thoughts scrolling behind his eyes. Taking a controlled breath he said in a tight voice, "Nope. Sousa and I were going out for a beer." She knew he was lying not wanting to admit that he was going to do exactly that: warm a can of soup, drink a Yahoo and probably listen to that horrid "Captain America Show" on the radio.

"The very same Sousa you call names because of his crippled leg?" Peggy didn't let him off the hook. She didn't like bullies. A few other patrons passed them in the narrow aisle, casting them looks as they squeezed by their stopped carts.

"It's a guy thing. You wouldn't understand." Jack retorted, looking down his nose.

"There is a thin line between a joke and cruelty. Between the truth and fiction. You of all people should understand that." she responded in a low tone.

Thompson swallowed as if her words had stung, "You gotta thing for Sousa or somethin'?"

Carter paused the snappy remark she had ready and almost sputtered, "No! Whatever would make you think that?"

A wave of what she interpreted as relief washed over his face, "Well, you two seemed like pals for a bit there."

"After you told him to fetch that compass in the locker room, apparently he and I did have a 'moment'. Jealous?" she cut back not quite ready to forgive him that set up of Sousa so he would see her in her underwear.

Jack saw this was not going to end well for him and so changed tact, "Well Mags, it's been swell catching up with you. I'll be on my way. Nice chat." He inclined his head, touching the brim of his hat, and then began to pull his cart backward away from hers.

Peggy instinctively reached out and touched his arm. Jack looked down at her hand that was resting so lightly on his coat sleeve and then back at her. She'd never touched him before and suddenly he felt light headed. "Jack. I… well… let's say it has been a very long time since I've had a friend to talk to. Someone I have something in common with." Carter looked at Thompson and sharply recalled the nights she and Steve would stay up talking into the small hours of the night. Her heart ached, but she saw a glimmer of someone she wanted to know more of in Jack. "If you don't think this is too much, would you like to have dinner with me?"

Thompson stood frozen as if transfixed by her touch and words. The rules of engagement with the opposite sex whirled in his brain. Women were not supposed to ask men out for dinner. Was this a date? She was Captain America's best girl. How could he, a liar, be eating dinner with _her_? Was he worthy? He was just an Agent, no more, not some super soldier. He was terribly confused. Everything he knew about how to behave evaporated into thin air and he felt naked and terribly exposed before her in the aisle of Tom's Corner Market.

"Jack?" her voice grabbed him out of his dumbfounded state.

"Uh. Oh." he blinked, "Apparently, I am a bad liar."

"To women at least." she raised her ruby lips a few degrees, a sparkle in her chocolate eyes.

"Well, looks like you won't be doing your laundry and I'll be eating something better than soup and Yahoo." he returned, feeling a weight lift from him. Damn him to hell if he didn't know how to behave, he'd make up his own rules, "I'd like to have dinner with you."

Peggy smiled warmly at his reply. This Friday night was looked to be better than average for a single lady in New York.


End file.
